Former NY Mets catcher Mike Piazza stays silent on PED questions at signing of his new book 'Long Shot'

New York Daily News | Feb 12

Plenty of fans lined the sidewalk on Fifth Avenue at 46th St. Monday, braving miserable weather to meet and greet Mike Piazza, but the former Mets catcher pulled a disappearing act with the media.Despite the publisher, Simon and Schuster, making clear that Piazza would grant no interviews to the print media before or after the signing — an interesting strategy to try and sell books — a small group of reporters waited inside Barnes & Noble to see if the catcher-turned-author would grant a few minutes of access.But Piazza seems to be letting his book do the talking, including his take on the topic of performance-enhancers and whether he used them during his 16-year career.The PED cloud has dogged Piazza, and despite having never failed a drug test, the suspicion of his use seemed to have swayed enough baseball writers not to vote Piazza into the Hall of Fame this year, his first appearance on the ballot.

In his book, “Long Shot,” Piazza writes that he took androstenedione — a steroid precursor that is now banned by Major League Baseball — during his career, but that he “felt compelled to phase andro out of my routine” after a bottle of it was found in Mark McGwire’s locker during the 1998 season. Piazza also writes that he tried amphetamines, or “greenies,” a “couple times” but disliked how they made him feel.